Der Oberhaupt
Oberhaupt Dietrich Grunwald is said to be one of the oldest Elves still alive today- one of the increasingly rare Sixth Generation Elves, the first generation born just after the Elvish separation from the Federation, hidden away well before the Wars ever began. His life before becoming the Oberhaupt is not terribly well documented or known aside from guesses- most of his generation don't speak much of their early lives, citing that it was extremely boring, mostly just studying whatever knowledge their elders had brought with them and watching a tiny fragment of a galaxy they were not allowed to take part in. At some point during the Wars however a plague spread throughout Kassun and killed most of the older Elves, sparing only handfuls of the younger generations of which Dietrich was a part. He was a major proponent of the breeding programs that his race used to repopulate their numbers, which took the entirety of the Wars to carry out, and supposedly the programs suffered many setbacks which are, in Dietrich's words, the reason they were so isolated and cut off for so long. They didn't believe they had the numbers necessary. There was at some point during these centuries of repopulation that Dietrich had a disagreement with his fellows on how best to develop a new form of government. Most of Dietrich's compatriots favored the development of a Republic, using historical references as proof that democracy was the strongest form by providing power to the People. Dietrich in turn argued that while providing power to the people was all well and good, a dictatorship ruled by a single trustworthy individual would be more effective and drastically reduce the burdens of bureaucratic inefficiencies. It was his belief that the system was not flawed, merely the people who had risen to power in such systems. Rather than going to war with his fellows though, Dietrich swore he would prove to them that he was correct by his own hand, and took whoever would follow him into the Escatil Mountains, and founded the Grunwald Konigreich. He spent centuries pouring over information, carefully picking at every aspect of social engineering until he had developed what he felt would be the perfect system, with himself overseeing this system as dictator for life. Dietrich Grunwald presents himself as an extremely calm, even tempered, and quiet individual- almost but not quite stoic. He has never been known to raise his voice in either anger or excitement, showing emotion through thin smiles or small frowns at most. The Oberhaupt believes fully in his nation and does whatever is necessary as per his guidelines to maintain it, and to accomplish this he often forces himself to be devoid of all but little emotion. Dietrich is well aware of how much is resting on his shoulders, and knows to that to continue effectively managing his Konigreich he must keep it under very close survaillence and maintain a Buddhist-like temperament lest he succumb to the same flaws that other dictators often do and become everything his old friends in the Thi'thysaer Republic feared would happen with such a government in power. To keep himself under control, Dietrich has a small legion of personal assistants and secretaries which is frequently changing, always staffed by the shorter-lived races, preferrably individuals with extensive education in the fields of psychology and psychiatry (at least half as much education and training as he has himself) so that they can keep an eye on him and ensure that he does not falter. It is rumored that every person he picks to join his personal staff is a secret protege, a person he is cultivating to replace him if ever an event should occur where he can no longer lead the nation. In all the centuries he has ruled the Konigreich, he has never been seen to take a day off for himself, supposedly dedicating himself wholly and solely to the management of the kingdom. Grunwald Konigreich Back to Main Page